Chance of Flurries
by nicayal
Summary: A spring break ski trip to help one heart-broken redhead get over a recent breakup would be a lot more fun if all the other participants weren't in sickeningly mushy relationships with one another. Convinced the entire trip is going to be a bust, Axel finds himself in for a surprise when he receives attention from an unexpected source. AkuRoku three-shot.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note**: This is an anticipated three-shot piece. After the emotional shitstorm that was completing Bereaved, I felt like I needed to write something a little less heavy on the angst (so, naturally, I go ahead and start writing Time Will Tell…because the 9/11 terrorist attacks are totally lighter fare on the traumatized-for-life scale…um, holy shit, nevermind). I also just went on a ski trip, so behold, an AkuRoku fluff piece set on a ski resort. Life imitates art much?

I had to listen to so much happy poppy music to get through this, guys (think: Carly Rae Jepson's "Turn Me Up", "Hurt So Good", "I Really Like You", RAC, Matthew Koma's "Cheap Sunglasses", and boat-freaking-loads of Owl City). My usual fare just wasn't gonna cut it for this one.

**Rating**: T. Warnings for language and sexual innuendos and situations. You can probably handle it.

Also, I swear on all that is holy and family-friendly Disney, Roxas is going to remain alive, well, and in one emotionally healthy piece throughout this story. Let's see if the same can be said for Axel by the time Roxas is through with him. ;)

* * *

Of all the places a group of gay guys could choose to visit to help cheer him up and keep his mind distracted from the general shittiness of recent relationship-related woes, Utah would not have even cracked Axel's top ten. It wasn't exactly a bastion of social progressiveness, after all.

Yet here they were, thirty minutes outside of Salt Lake City, dumping luggage and oversized ski bags in the living area of the resort rental that'd be their living space for the next handful of days. Two couples, a pink-haired player going solo while his latest boyfriend soaked up the sun in Cabo, and one mopey, newly single redhead, plus three bedrooms, equated to five full days of not just myriad attempts at being cheered up but also just as many opportunities for Axel to get to see Demyx and Zexion, and Cloud and Leon, in multiple over-the-top PDA scenarios.

Personally, he wasn't really in the mood to see his schoolmates sucking face for the entirety of his spring break, or to observe Marluxia picking up overnight playthings while extolling the virtues of open relationships every damn chance he got.

If they'd all just left him alone to brood back in the dorms for a week, he'd have been _fine_.

It didn't help that he hated snow and cold with a fiery, burning passion. Give him sunny SoCal weather over this fluffy white bullshit any day of the fucking week. Seriously.

"Dude. Look at the sweet view."

Dutifully, Axel looked up and over at Demyx while simultaneously sliding his bag off one shoulder. Just over $100 for ski and boot rentals hadn't been terrible. Neither had the cost of the flight or the resort rental after being split six ways. It was still money he'd rather have spent on something else. Maybe on a cruise, or a week on some South Pacific island beach.

Or, you know, drinking himself into oblivion. It was hard enough to be pretty newly out, without having the first guy you were head over heels with deciding that, after nearly a year of blissful monogamy, he'd rather keep things more "casual" when that had just been a code-word for "I'm already sleeping around and thought I should let you retroactively know."

"There's a little blond doing some bomb-ass tricks on that ice rink down below. He's kind of cute."

Axel sucked in a breath, schooled his expression into one of neutrality, and took a glance out the floor-to-ceiling window where Demyx was pointing. Even if he was in a shitty mood, it didn't mean he needed to ruin the entire week for everyone else.

"Cute," Axel echoed, his tone subtly flat, not really looking.

Behind him, Cloud and Leon were already in one of the rental's bedrooms, calling dibs.

"The mountains _are_ quite scenic…" Zexion's voice held a note of doubt. Of everyone in their traveling group, he had been the least enthused about their chosen vacation choice. Apart from Axel, obviously. It made sense. Zexion wasn't all that athletically inclined. He was more at home in museums, with historical walking tours being the pinnacle of his interest in exercising. In fact, Axel couldn't honestly imagine the slate-haired scholar suited up on the summit of some ski slope. At all. That image alone almost made the trip a little more amusing and enjoyable, more worthwhile for him to have to endure.

Almost.

"We'll find alternate ways of keeping ourselves occupied, dahhling," Marluxia trilled behind them. "Manicures and mojitos sound like a wonderful place to start."

Zexion only made it halfway through a roll of his eyes before Demyx grabbed him into a crushing, one-armed side hug. "Don't be modest, Mar. We all know you kill on skis. And Zex is so totally going skiing with us. That's the whole point of this trip, isn't it?"

"I _thought_ the point was to cheer Axel up," Zexion replied dryly.

"By skiing, duh! He won't be able to cry when he's focusing on not killing himself going down a black diamond!"

This time, Zexion did get a full eye roll in. "Only because it's so cold the tears would freeze straight onto his face. It's a basic rule of science."

"Enough, guys," Axel cut in, starting to feel as exasperated as Zexion looked. "I'm not gonna cry. I'm a grown-ass man, for godssake."

Both Demyx and Zexion looked skeptical.

Axel felt a hand on his shoulder, and turned, regarding Marluxia's close proximity with a healthy level of defensiveness. The pink haired college senior just raised his eyebrows apparently intending to convey innocence in response. "Looks like we're going to be roommates for this trip," he said, tone casual. "Assuming these two lovebirds don't get into a fight beyond this petty-bickering-slash-blatant-display-of-verbal-foreplay." Nearby, Zexion's expression transformed from one of surprise to an embarrassed flush in about two seconds flat. Demyx just stuck his tongue out, hefted his bag back onto one shoulder, and nudged his boyfriend into the second bedroom with his free elbow.

Axel nodded slowly, tried not to sigh as he allowed Marluxia to pull him toward the remaining room.

"C'mon, lover-boy. Let's see if we got the set of double beds we requested. Otherwise," Marluxia waggled his eyebrows suggestively, "you and I will be getting to know each other even more intimately on this trip than we first thought."

o - o

Demyx had promised, practically sworn, that they'd start out easy with a few green circle runs, probably more for Zexion's benefit than his own. Apparently uninterested in starting off slow, Cloud and Leon had hopped a lift toward one of the more advanced hills for their first descent.

Axel, at least, had skied before as a kid. It was kind of a given if you'd grown up in the Midwest where it snowed for six months out of every year. Zexion, on the other hand, had never ventured far beyond his Southern California roots, not even to attend university. At least Axel had the benefit of some past experience.

There was a reason he'd gotten the hell out of Iowa the moment he'd had the opportunity though. Cold was miserable, a bigger bitch than even his ex. The breakup was still fresh enough that thinking petty thoughts like this made him feel a little better. But only just a very little.

So, easy hills it was for the first few runs. Sure.

Or so Demyx had claimed.

"Demyx, this…" Zexion said, eyeing the hill Demyx had chosen with increasing alarm. "This is _not_ a bunny hill."

The only one of them with a snowboard, Demyx balanced with practiced ease on the one foot he already had strapped in, gliding along toward the edge of the hill, before bending to secure his other foot to the bindings on his board.

"Who said anything about bunny hills?" he asked, expression suspiciously innocent. "I'm pretty sure this resort doesn't even have any."

"Wha—" Zexion spluttered, before making a visible effort to compose himself. "You said—"

"I _said_ we'd be doing an easier run," Demyx interjected. "as in, if you take a tumble, you're not gonna break your cute little neck. I mean, probably."

Zexion shot him a withering look.

"We can go slow," Axel offered, giving the snow next to his ski an experimental poke with one pole. "It's not like I've done this for over a decade either."

"Yes, well. At least you're not completely new at this. I may very well be heading toward great bodily injury in a matter of moments." Zexion took a delicate sniff, nose up, then began coughing, apparently unprepared for the choking iciness of the chill mountain air.

Standing upright, Demyx lifted one side of his snowboard by shifting his weight, then the other, while very blatantly ignoring Zexion's last comment. "All set here. Good to go, Mar?"

Nearby, Marluxia adjusted his ski goggles, then nodded without a word.

Almost in unison, he and Demyx set off, over the slight dip from the level area at the top of the ridge and onto the hill's first noticeable decline. Axel hesitated a moment, shooting a glance at Zexion who seemed to be steeling himself as though about to commence with a session of voluntary but wholly avoidable physical torture. Below them, Demyx and Marluxia were weaving back and forth between one another with practiced fluidity.

Fuckers, Axel thought. This was going to be embarrassing as hell.

Sighing into the fleecy warmth of his scarf, Axel pushed off a split second after Zexion finally decided to begin.

Less than thirty comically unbalanced seconds later, they were both down, Axel on one side, legs and skis splayed awkwardly in the air above his body, Zexion flat on his back, having snapped both skis off from his boots in the process.

"Motherfu—"

Through his helmet, Axel heard the muffled sounds of a frustrated Zexion mouthing a curse. Axel was pretty sure it was the first time he'd heard the mild-mannered student swear since meeting him all the way back in freshman year.

"You guys okay?" Demyx called from a handful of yards further down. Although he couldn't hear it, the look on Marluxia's face implied that he was having a laugh at both of their expenses.

Axel glanced over at Zexion who nodded, a grim look etching a severe expression across his features.

Slowly, Axel used his ski poles to right himself, then quirked his head, trying to figure out how to get to Zexion about ten feet above him, let alone retrieve his skis which were even further up the hill. At least Zexion had had the presence of mind to hold onto his poles, which he still seemed to have in a semi-desperate death grip.

A snowboarder appeared above them, slowing his descending pace to bend over to retrieve first one ski and then the other, before grinding to an easy stop right by the pair of them.

"You okay, man? That looked like a hella hard fall, yo."

Zexion looked up, his cheeks two splotches of red surrounding the paler skin on the rest of his face. At least it was cold enough that his coloring could just as easily be taken as chill as embarrassment, Axel thought as he carefully made his way up to Zexion.

The slate-haired man nodded, then took Axel's offered hand, standing unsteadily even just in his ski boots. "I'm terrible at this." The words were muttered under his breath.

"We all gotta start somewhere if we wanna get good though, right?" the boarder said, tone good-natured.

"_If_," Zexion uttered, voice deadpan.

The boarder merely grinned in response, then placed the skis he'd retrieved at Zexion's feet. "One at a time, yo. Lean on us both if you need the support."

Axel could tell leaning against a veritable stranger was just about the exact opposite of what Zexion wanted to do right now, but the moment he put more than a light amount of weight on Axel, the redhead found himself slipping downward, barely managing to check his own balance.

Zexion grudgingly took the boarder's offer of a second hand.

If not for the additional stability, he might have fallen again when his foot slipped out of the ski binding. The boarder was strong, however, and with Axel's help, they eventually got Zexion back into both skis.

"You're gonna want to go more sideways instead of aiming straight down," the boarder said. "Back and forth, figure out how to stop at a reasonable speed 'til ya get the hang of things."

"Thanks for your help," Axel called, as the boarder zipped off, doing just about the opposite of what he'd just advised the duo to practice. In a matter of seconds, he'd hit such a fast speed, Axel couldn't help but feel this particular hill had just been a warmup for him.

"And here I thought you had a monopoly on red hair dye."

Axel turned, expression confused. "Come again?"

From his one visible eye, Zexion shot Axel a look of surprise. "Did you seriously not see his hair?"

Axel shook his head. He'd been more focused on helping Zexion right himself.

"I really am the only one who pays attention to anything," Zexion said, tone mildly exasperated as he took an experimental push sideways as instructed, then pressed his outside ski into the snow hard in an attempt to stop. He almost overshot, upper body jerking backward before he was able to check his balance enough to save himself. Carefully, Axel copied the movement, stopping just about as incompetently, but miraculously also remaining on his feet.

Below them, Demyx whooped, raising his oversized, gloved hands into the air triumphantly as Zexion and Axel slowly made their way down to the other two in their group. Marluxia only partially managed to hide a bored yawn behind one of his pink gloved hands.

By the end of their first run, Axel felt he was finally getting the hang of the back and forth skiing motion enough to add some speed into the mix. Zexion, on the other hand, fell multiple times, each just as dramatically as the first, necessitating several more stops before they made it down.

After his final fall before they returned to the lift line, Zexion managed to bite his tongue as his butt connected with the hard-packed snow beneath him. Demyx slowed, bending over to offer him some help up. "You'll get the hang of it, cutie. Just give it some time."

Axel watched as Zexion allowed himself to be pulled up once more.

"Why anyone would subject themselves to such pain on a voluntary basis continues to escape my understanding," Zexion griped, including a dramatic sigh for good measure.

_Funny_, Axel thought as he tried to kick off some of the snow that had accumulated on one ski, _I could say pretty much the same thing about relationships_.

o - o

They met up with Cloud and Leon for lunch at one of the resort's restaurant lodges. Despite his increasing proficiency, Axel's group had only managed to make it down two more "easy" runs since he and Zexion had both wiped out the first few times. Just when Axel had thought he'd gotten the hang of maneuvering his skis, he'd managed to hit a patch of unexpectedly icy snow and down he'd gone again.

Axel wasn't sure if he was having fun, necessarily, but one thing was certain - he hadn't had a whole lot of time to dwell on his angsty feelings over the past two hours. He'd been way too busy trying to ensure he didn't break his damn neck. And they hadn't even gotten close to considering skiing down black diamond hills yet.

Cloud and Leon, on the other hand…

"Dude, I am so trying that hill before we leave," he heard Demyx say as Axel forced himself to pay attention to the conversation going on around him. "I mean, the thing's called _Glory Hole_."

Next to him, Zexion choked on a french fry and began hacking to clear his throat. As Demyx turned and slapped him hard on the back a few times with a nonchalant "careful, babe," Axel noted that the moisture creeping out the sides of Zexion's watering eyes didn't seem to be freezing to his face, as he'd claimed earlier. So much for basic rules of science.

Or maybe it really was just that warm out, he thought. Going down hills wasn't that bad with the wind whipping directly into his face, and brittle sprays of icy snow against his cheeks if he got too close to Demyx and Marluxia who were usually right in front of him, checking back to ensure he and Zexion hadn't wiped out once again. It was waiting in line at the lifts that was more on the hellish side of things. Axel never thought he'd hate the feeling of the sun beating directly down on him, but he supposed there was a first time for everything. When he was already sweaty from the physical exertion of the simple act of skiing itself and also happened to be outfitted in full-out winter gear, he guessed it made sense. The effect involved practically boiling in his ski jacket. It certainly never got warm enough during winters in the Midwest for this to happen, while engaging in exercise or otherwise.

Cloud looked skyward at Demyx's comment. "We're how old now, Dem?"

"Old enough to know what a glory hole actually is!" Demyx chirped, unfazed. Across the table, Leon hid a smile as he reached for the plastic cup of beer in front of him.

"You should definitely join us," Leon said, returning to the original topic. "Some of the more advanced hills are near the snowboard-restricted runs too, if you want to give those a try."

"That'd be amazeballs," Demyx said, bouncing on the picnic table's bench a little before shooting a guilty look Zexion's way. "I mean, maybe. I'm probably gonna stay with Zex 'til he's a little more comfortable on the green slopes."

Zexion waved him off. "You can go with them. I think I'm done for the day."

Demyx opened his mouth, looked like he was about to protest, but Zexion continued speaking before he could say anything.

"It's really fine. My legs are burning, and I think I'm just going to have more problems staying upright the more fatigued I get. I can try again tomorrow."

"You could always stick with us," Marluxia offered, before taking a bite into his buffalo burger. Axel nodded in agreement, mostly just to show he was actually still listening.

"Axel is picking this up much more quickly than I am," Zexion pointed out. "Go try some harder hills while I rest. I can join you again on that green …_monstrosity_… another day."

"You're sure?" Demyx looked concerned, maybe worried that his boyfriend wasn't having fun.

"I am." Zexion popped another fry into his mouth, this time chewing very deliberately before swallowing. "I can look around the shops in the village square near our rental. It's certainly pleasant enough outside to take a walk and get my feet back under me."

"Or go skating on that little rink in the center of the square!" Demyx suggested brightly.

Zexion pursed his lips. "Because that'd be so much easier than skiing, I'm sure."

"I can take you to some intermediate hills while Dem tries out the harder stuff with those two," Marluxia said to Axel, inclining his head toward Cloud and Leon. "We'd all be taking the same lift for the first half anyway before splitting up."

Axel nodded. He was feeling exhausted, not used to the strain the restrictive ski boots were putting on his calves and quad muscles, but he was just as curious to see if he could handle steeper, more challenging slopes now that he had his feet more under him after a morning of the easier stuff.

Another upside? Higher altitude meant less chance of direct sunlight making him completely burst into flames the first day into this Demyx-imposed vacation. Apparently he _could_ see the bright side of things once in awhile.

o - o

If there was one thing Axel had learned in the ninety minutes since lunch, it was that green circle slopes had absolutely _nothing_ on blue squares. Thank fucking god that steeper hills meant longer trips on the ski lift back up; he definitely needed the extra rest for his aching, exhausted legs to recover from each prior downhill assault. He was beginning to think Zexion was even more of a genius than he already seemed to be, having had the presence of mind to opt out early on.

Axel wasn't feeble in the slightest, but he was certain he'd never used so many different leg muscles before in his entire life. He seriously had no idea how Cloud and Leon had managed one advanced hill, let alone three quarters of a full day's worth of them.

Marluxia too seemed to be having very little difficulty, stopping only when he reached more level areas of each run to look back up and locate Axel before taking off again.

"You'll get used to it," he'd assured his friend. "It's just timing and balance. And sometimes a little bit of luck."

As much as Axel had wanted to offer a snarky comment in response, Marluxia's words were slowly becoming reality as the day wore on. His legs were getting more fatigued with each run, but Axel was also finding himself becoming more competent at slowing or stopping when he needed a rest, of taking advantage of more level parts of the run to rest his legs while gliding on flats.

The sun was still an utter bitch in the lift lines though, which were getting increasingly longer with more people showing up to ski as the day wore on.

"One last hill for me, then I'm out," Axel said to Marluxia as he ground to a halt at the bottom of the slope they'd just skied down. He eyed the line with overt disdain.

Marluxia nodded, picking up one foot and then the other as he stroked his way to the back of the line. Not confident mimicking the movement wouldn't land him flat on his face, Axel stabbed both poles into the snow in front of him, pulling himself along by the strength of his arms.

"The singles line is a lot shorter," Marluxia called. "Let's do that. If we end up on different chairs, we can meet at the top."

Axel nodded to indicate he'd heard, then slid into the referenced line immediately behind his friend. Anything to get away from the sun as quickly as possible was fine by him.

To his right, larger groups got in line, waiting to be called up toward the chairs by resort employees. Marluxia ended up the sixth with a group of four from the next lane over and one person immediately in front of him in the single line. As he took his seat in the lift chair, he turned back and waved a ski pole at Axel.

"Five?" a resort employee asked the group in the line adjacent to Axel's. Receiving confirmation, the resort worker beckoned to Axel, indicating he should take the final spot on the far right.

This would be a really shitty time to lose his balance and fall off the lift, Axel figured, as he got into place and eyed the approaching chair.

Thankfully, he appeared to have gotten the hang of it by now, lowering himself into place without incident a split second before the lift began its languid ascent up and away from lower ground.

"Bar down," a voice called. Axel moved his skis out of the way of the descending safety bar, sliding them to one side before settling them onto the footrest that appeared below.

"Hey! It's you again." Axel turned at the sound of a semi-familiar voice, took in the snowboarder who had been Zexion's savior earlier in the day.

Well, how about that? The guy did have a pretty impressive mane of red hair, just as Zexion had noted.

"Looks like you're movin' up in the world if you're on this lift, huh?"

Axel nodded in response. The lowest level slope this particular lift dropped off at was an intermediate blue.

"Good to hear," the guy said. "But you seem to be down one unenthusiastic ski buddy, yo."

"He called it a day," Axel said. "I'm apparently a bigger glutton for punishment."

The snowboarder laughed, swinging his legs below him. The lift chair swayed gently with the action.

"Be careful, will you," the man to Axel's immediate left said. Axel noted wisps of silvery hair peeking out from underneath the guy's helmet as he momentarily took in this newest speaker.

The redhead ignored his companion, eyes still fixed on Axel. "Where are ya from?"

"LA," Axel said, looking down momentarily to push some excess snow off one of his skis with an outstretched poll. "What about you guys?" Not all of them had to respond if they didn't feel like it, he figured, stealing a glance at the guy who'd just rebuked the red-haired snowboarder.

"Me and Riku here," the guy said, sliding his arm over his neighbor's shoulders and squeezing slightly, despite Riku's responding grimace, "flew out from San Francisco."

"And we came from Montreal." A voice, accent endearingly airy, chimed in as a young man leaned over the safety bar to offer a friendly wave Axel's way.

Despite the chilly air at their steadily increasing altitude, Axel felt his neck heat up at the sight of the second speaker. Bright blue eyes looked out from under a mess of light blond hair, his small but pert lips upturned in a friendly smile. He sat between a boy with darker hair but similar features on one side and a petite, blonde girl on the other. And, aside from the girl, Axel noticed he was the only other person on the lift who was in skis.

"Yeah, fuckin' Canada," the red-haired guy said, "Some of us have been operating on a hella long distance relationship type of setup outside of these little snowboarding excursions. It kinda blows."

Long distance …relationships? Axel quickly assessed the gender demographics of the people sharing the lift chair. Besides him, it was four guys and just one girl. It wasn't hard to come to some quick conclusions as a result.

And…well, he wasn't quite sure why the realization caused him such disappointment. It wasn't like he'd agreed to go on this trip with the hope of meeting anyone, or even getting laid. He wasn't Marluxia-level slutty here.

Still, there was no denying a certain level of dissatisfaction as a result of the redhead's words. The blond was definitely cute. It figured the only guys he ended up being physically attracted to were either straight or unavailable.

Or option three: utterly disingenuous, cheating whorebags.

And just like that, Axel was back to feeling abso-fucking-lutely awful. That hadn't taken long.

"Bar up!" the girl called as the lift's drop-off came into view. Axel moved his skis off the footrest and watched the metal frame lift back into place above their heads.

"What's your name, yo?"

Was it so much to ask that he just be left in peace for the last minute of this ride? Axel forcibly swallowed the acerbic response. Just because someone else was probably getting way more action than him didn't mean he needed to be a dick to a virtual stranger. Especially not one who'd been nice enough to help Zexion after his first fall.

"Axel," he answered, voice flat, emotionless.

The response he received was an entirely unexpected laugh.

"That's really fucking coincidental, huh?" The man reached out a hand and tousled the blond boy's hair affectionately.

Feeling an embarrassing mix of jealousy and confusion surge through him, Axel looked away, fixing his eyes on the approaching drop-off. He still wasn't comfortable enough on skis not to have to devote some level of concentration to gliding off and away from the chair on these things.

Marluxia was waiting off to one side, eyes on his friend as Axel checked his balance and coasted toward him. Out of the corner of one eye, he saw the group he'd just shared the lift chair with angle their way to a stop nearby, the girl waiting, skis perfectly parallel to one another, as her male companions secured their free feet into their snowboard bindings.

Then they were off, gliding past Axel and Marluxia in the direction of a black diamond hill. "Nice to meet you, man," the redhead said as he zipped on past. It took Axel a moment longer to realize he'd only gotten one of their names during the entirety of the lift ride. And it hadn't even been the redhead that he'd actually been talking to.

Or the blond…

Marluxia eyed the departing group, then turned back to Axel.

"Some of them were kind of cute. I'd do Silver in a heartbeat."

Axel shot Marluxia a lightly exasperated look, which only resulted in a foxy returned grin, before his friend pushed off and began his descent down the hill, Axel following closely behind. Pink hair whipping wildly around his face, Marluxia twisted his head back toward Axel, grin still firmly in place, expression subtly ribald.

"I'm just saying, darlin'…"


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N**: I didn't think I was going to get this section done today, but then my commuter train hit someone on the tracks and we've been stuck for almost four hours only one stop from where I boarded. Instead of a three hour commute, now I get a five or six hour one. And you get an update. So here you go. I wrote so freaking much for this section I ended up having to break it up. More soon, at least?

* * *

Axel woke the next morning to a blinking text message and the not-so-subtle feeling that his body had been run over by a semi-truck. Repeatedly.

At least he'd had enough to drink last night not to have heard anyone having sex in the rooms on either side of him. He supposed he should be thankful for small miracles and leave it at that.

Groaning, he felt his shoulder pop in apparent physical protest as he raised himself up to one elbow and reached for his phone where it lay charging on a side table next to his bed. Every part of his body ached. After skimming the text message, the physical pain seemed to deepen as it transitioned into a piercing, sharply aching heat in the deep, emotional recesses of his chest.

He pushed the phone away, wished it were even half as easy to do the same to the person who'd sent the text out in LA, then plopped back down onto his pillow with a slightly muffled grunt. He had not anticipated being this sore after a single day of skiing. Through bleary eyes, Axel noted Marluxia's bed across the room, neatly made and untouched from the night before.

Right. The night before, when they'd grabbed dinner and then Demyx had insisted on finding a gay-friendly club…forty miles away in Salt Lake City, which had a surprising amount of them considering it was, well, in the middle of _fucking Utah_.

Axel blinked a little, trying to encourage his body to overcome the exhaustion he was feeling. He vaguely remembered flashes of scenes from the club, of Demyx downing beers by the pint with designated driver Zexion looking on as he tried to hide his disinterest in the venue, of Cloud and Leon in the middle of the dance floor together, seeming just as at home there as they'd been on the ski slopes. Marluxia had been dancing too, if Axel remembered correctly, but with strangers. Touchy, feely strangers that left no question as to their ultimate intentions once the dancing came to an end.

Axel glanced back at his friend's unslept-in bed. Mystery solved on that front, he supposed. How Mar could meet strangers and so easily sleep with them in one-night encounters, Axel still couldn't manage to wrap his mind around. Shouldn't there be some form of… connection? Shared personal interests? Some sort of consideration about a long-term relationship before doing… _that_ together?

Tentatively, he straightened his legs beneath the sheet covers, pointing his toes and locking his knees to get the full benefit of the stretch.

Okay, so maybe he was a little traditional, particularly for the LA gay scene, but he had grown up practically in the cornfields of Iowa, for godssake. The only examples of 'proper' relationships he'd seen had involved serious dating, generally leading to marriage, a dog, and 2.3 kids.

And every single one of the examples he'd witnessed through adolescence had involved straight couples.

Axel hadn't even _met_ another out gay person until he'd moved to Los Angeles for school. Eighteen years of his life had been utterly devoid of any sort of guidance or emotional support as he'd struggled to figure out why girl after girl he'd dated during high school had just felt so _off_ in terms of his underlying attractions.

Half a week in an LA college dorm room, and he'd already met a handful of guys, other students at school, who he related to more than anyone from back home. These were people who didn't balk when they saw two men holding hands, who enjoyed greeting friends with warm hugs and voiced zero concerns about how masculine the gesture came off to others. And, just as suddenly, Axel had finally begun to feel like he could be himself for the first time in his life.

Then Axel had gone and fallen for _him_, decided to come out publicly at _his_ encouragement, and it had all fallen apart.

That was framed a tad dramatically, he conceded as he pulled the covers up a little higher onto his shoulders, savoring their warmth. His parents had been surprised at the news, but they had tried to be supportive, which was more than he'd initially hoped for. It'd just been incredibly embarrassing for him to have mentioned having a boyfriend, only to end up decidedly _not_ having one just a few weeks later.

Maybe Marluxia thought open relationships were the best possible solution to the dating problem, but Axel didn't personally understand how great he'd be at swallowing his own jealousy at knowing his boyfriend was sleeping around, even if they'd agreed upon the arrangement beforehand.

Which, point in fucking fact, they _so totally hadn't_ anyway in this case. He glared at his phone as if it were the offending individual rather than an innocent purveyor of messages between the two. Mostly, he was angry because the betrayal still felt fresh, raw. That, and he had no goddamn idea how to reply.

He didn't have long to stew in his own misery. A moment later, the door opened, a burst of light from the living room hitting Axel's face square-on.

"Rise and shine, buddy! It's almost slope-time." Demyx's cheerful voice seemed to bounce off every wall in his room indiscriminately, assaulting Axel from every conceivable angle. Axel hadn't had a ton to drink the night before, but it'd been enough for bright lights and loud sounds to make his temples pulse uncomfortably twelve hours later.

Demyx, on the other hand…

Stubbornly, Axel didn't respond, buried his nose further into the bedsheets. They provided a measure of cozy comfort, blocking out the light with their silken dark — until they were yanked unceremoniously away.

"Nuh uh. No sleeping in on my watch! The earlier we head out, the fewer people will be on the hills, dude. And it snowed a little last night so we'll get a first try at the new stuff before others start tearing it up."

Axel let out an audible groan and shot his friend an irritable look. "Don't you ever get hangovers?"

Quirking his head a little as though contemplating the question, Demyx glanced back at Axel, a subtly puzzled expression gracing his features. "Uh…no?"

It fucking figured.

Axel sighed, rolled over onto his back. "Marluxia isn't even back yet. And I'm not really in the mood right now, in all honesty, Dem."

Unable to stop himself, Axel shot his cell phone a baleful look.

"Mar pinged me earlier. He'll be back by lunchtime, no big," Demyx said, waving off Axel's concern. He looked between the redhead and the object of his friend's ire for a moment in silence. Demyx could be the most oblivious person on the face of the planet most of the time, but in that moment, he seemed to have pieced things together in record time. "He called you last night?"

Axel shrugged, a stiff jerky motion compliments of yesterday's activities and the soreness that had developed in their stead. "Texted," he said, "but just about the same difference." He let out another sigh. "I wish he'd just leave me alone, you know?"

"Straight up," Demyx said, nodding vigorously. Then, before Axel could even process the movement, Demyx had snatched up the phone, clicked past Axel's lock-screen which he'd known the password to since sophomore year, and pulled up the messages app. His eyes scanned over the few lines of text before scoffing a little, expression incredulous.

"He wants to get back together, but keep things open? Thinks you overreacted?"

Axel looked up at his friend, trying to stifle a grimace, to suppress a rising sense of desperation. "I don't know. Maybe I did?"

"Like hell," Demyx said, his thumbs flying over the phone's digital keypad at breakneck speed. "Open relationships are, you know, they're fine. Whatever. But only if everyone involved is cool with 'em. That's totally not what happened here."

Axel sat up, eyeing his friend with increasing disquiet. "What, exactly, are you doing there?"

"Blocking his number," Demyx said, not looking up. "No point in him being able to contact you and make you feel like shit every five frickin' minutes."

Axel nodded. That was probably something he should've done immediately after the breakup, come to think, except…"It looks like you're sending a text," he said, voice tentative.

"Yeah," Demyx said. "That too." He shot his friend a small smile before tossing the phone over to Axel. "Now get dressed. We've got hills to conquer. But first, coffeeeee!" Then he was off, practically prancing out of the room, a self-satisfied expression on his face until he was well beyond Axel's line of sight.

For a moment, Axel sat upright on his bed, staring at the black screen of the phone in his hands. Then, after a moment's hesitation, he clicked it on, and read the last of his sent messages.

_PSA: Your ass has been blocked_, the first line read.

And then, the second: _thanks again for cheating on me, you tone deaf dickbiscuit. Blonds are hotter anyway._

o - o

The resort's coffee shop had a rustic feel, with signs boasting organic coffee beans and walls with original exposed wood beams. Axel, along with everyone else in his group except Marluxia, entered the shop sporting vastly diverse sets of moods. Axel was grouchy but hopeful, Demyx bouncy as usual by his side. Nearby, Zexion stood, studying the drink options as though he was about to take a pop quiz. Leon and Cloud were behind them, discussing something grad student-related that went right over Axel's head. All were wearing skiing gear, ready to hit the hills after getting a little caffeine into their systems.

Axel placed his order at the counter, passed over some cash, then stepped back to wait for his friends to do the same. A gust of chilly wind hit the back of his neck as the door opened, admitting another set of customers.

Out of the corner of his eye, Axel saw a flash of silver hair. He turned without thinking, coming nearly face to face with two of the men he'd shared yesterday's final lift ride with.

"Hey…Axel, right?" The short guy who'd been sitting immediately to his redheaded doppelgänger's left had been the one to speak while Silver just stood by his side, looking Axel over with the same hint of a scowl he'd sported the day before.

_Not 'Silver'. It's Riku_. Axel pulled the name out of the recesses his memory. He would not reduce this man to a nickname Marluxia had given to the guy he'd said he wouldn't mind outright fucki—

"Right, yeah," Axel said, interjecting his own thoughts before he ended up full-out returning to discussions of sleeping around he'd really rather forget at this point. "Sorry, I didn't catch anyone's name yesterday," he said, before turning to eye the impassive expression on the silver-haired man's face. "Except yours."

Apparently done with their order, Demyx and Zexion appeared at Axel's side. Zexion offered Axel the coffee he'd ordered, which Axel took, thankful to be able to get some caffeine into his exercise and emotionally-fatigued system as quickly as possible.

"I'm Sora," the boy by Riku's side said. His accent was lilting, airy, just like the blond's had been yesterday. It induced a light fluttering in Axel's chest, even though the tone wasn't quite the same as the one attached to the guy who'd so quickly made such a big impression with him on the lift.

"Hey, cool," Demyx said, butting in without any apparent compunction. "You're French or something?"

"Québécois, I'm guessing." This time it was Zexion who spoke, his lips hovering over an open coffee cup before exhaling in an attempt to cool the steaming liquid.

Sora tilted his head slightly, a friendly smile on his face. "Yes, that's right. Impressive. How did you know?"

"My Zexy's so smart," Demyx said, obvious pride in his tone. "He probably has all the accents memorized, right?" He looked toward Zexion expectantly.

"I actually just made an educated guess because Canada is much closer to here than France," Zexion replied. "And, I expect the French would be more inclined to visit the Alps than a small town in the middle of nowhere, Utah." His eyes rose upward marginally then lowered again as if he was making an effort to suppress a full-out eye-roll. Then, turning to his boyfriend, he said much more quietly, "And don't call me that, please. It makes me sound like a toy poodle or something."

Demyx simply laughed and Sora's smile widened at the exchange. Even Axel found himself smiling at the comment, as Cloud and Leon approached. It was only when Axel saw Riku slide a visibly muscled arm over Sora's thin shoulders that Axel felt the tightness return to his chest, remembering how the other snowboarder had so nonchalantly reached an arm out to muss a certain blond's hair yesterday. If Sora and this Riku guy were together, which it appeared they were, that left three others, two of whom had also been mentioned as dating. The girl had had such similar features and coloring to the blond boy that Axel suspected they had to be related, which left the redheaded snowboarder with one or the other. And, although he had no real way to know for sure one way or the other, Axel suspected he had a good hunch as to who was dating whom.

Ugh, this over-obsessive pondering needed to _stop_.

"Well, we've just come for coffee before more boarding," Sora said, his words spoken with an endearing level of carefulness, like he still had to think through what he was saying before actually speaking out loud in English. "It was nice seeing you again," he said to Axel before he turned to the other members of Axel's group, "and nice meeting some of you too."

"Likewise," Demyx murmured, and Axel saw Zexion incline his head as the pair passed on by on their way up to the counter.

"Dude," Demyx said, before taking a swig of his coffee much in the same way he'd chugged down beer after beer the night before, "I freaking love how gay friendly this place is."

He beckoned the rest of his group to follow as he led the way out of the coffee shop and over toward the overnight ski check where they'd left their equipment the evening before.

That was one thing they could agree on, Axel supposed. This place definitely seemed welcoming of gay guys. It was just too bad all of them were already spoken for.

A wry expression passed over his face as Axel allowed himself a small moment of humor. _Except_, _technically_, he thought, _for Marluxia_.

o - o

If Axel had thought learning to ski yesterday was hard a decade removed from his last attempt, today's experience had thus far ended up being completely and undeniably worse. On sore, tight muscles, every stop, every sharply shuddering turn, made his legs burn with a fiery passion, which the relentless sun had only served to exacerbate. By lunchtime, Axel's body was physically shaking, chest heaving, small tremors running the length of both knotted calves.

To make matters worse, Zexion had improved at such a rate that he seemed ready to almost give Marluxia a run for his downhill skiing money, much to Axel's bewilderment. His classmate hadn't fallen once today yet, as far as Axel had seen.

By the time they all reconvened for lunch, Axel wasn't the only one confused by the sudden improvement. Having followed them down the last portion of a beginner hill after traversing a much steeper one above, Cloud and Leon both seemed to have been watching Zexion carefully. They may not have been present at the time of his previous spills, but by now Demyx had filled them in enough to take note of the upswing in both Zexion's technique and his mood.

"You look like you're picking things up quickly," Cloud commented as they stood in the food stand line. By his side, Leon nodded his agreement. "Yeah, that was impressive. It must've just taken you a day to get your feet underneath you."

Zexion smiled, a controlled, subtle expression encroaching on the corners of his otherwise stoic lips. "Yes. And a lot of YouTube tutorials."

Demyx and Axel looked over at him at the same time.

"You mean," Axel said, trying to wrap his head around what Zexion had just said, "you improved because of …YouTube?"

"Tutorials, yes," Zexion affirmed. "I watched some after you and Demyx passed out last night. Skiing is very heavily physics-based, I discovered. As is ice skating, come to think. Both seem much more manageable when employing those principles."

Of course they did.

Only Zexion would find an academic basis for downhill skiing and actually get better simply by watching online video snippets, Axel figured. He pulled off his helmet, shaking sweat-dampened tresses of hair off of his forehead. "Meanwhile, I feel like I'm about half-dead over here. So much for being in shape."

"I think the rest I took yesterday may have helped substantially," Zexion offered, not without sympathy. "And," he continued, one visible eye looking out toward the seating area, "it seems that Marluxia has returned."

Axel looked up just in time to see pink hair and a beckoning wave. As they reached the counter, Axel ordered a beer and a hot dog, before limping, ski boots still on, toward his friend. "Did you want any food?" he asked, sitting down gingerly across the table from Marluxia.

"Ta, no, darling," Marluxia said, putting on a faux British accent. As the rest of their group began to sit down around them, he shot Axel a good-natured but salacious look. "I've already had more than my fill. At least for today."

As Demyx's lips upturned into a silly grin, head bobbing appreciatively at the double entendre, Axel resisted the urge to drop his own head directly onto the picnic table and cover it with his hands. To keep himself busy, he gulped down half his beer and finished his hot dog off in short order, grateful that Marluxia had turned to talk to Leon about the condition of various ski runs, rather than opting to make comments about the phallic shape of his food choice du jour.

Not able to really follow along or understand why 'groomed' trails were preferable to 'natural' ones, Axel turned to Zexion sitting quietly next to him. "I think you may be onto something with the taking time to rest your muscles bit," he said, sliding the remnants of his hot dug bun across his paper plate.

Zexion nodded. "Unfortunately, our limited time here necessitates packing each day to its fullest, which I suspect isn't ideal for getting your muscles accustomed to such strain."

The conversation moved on to hills each skier wanted to try later that afternoon, with Demyx even getting Zexion to agree to try some intermediate slopes. When Axel imagined trying to bend his legs in the industrial-strength vices already cramping up his feet, he found himself trying to repress a shudder. He was sore, exhausted, and, moreover, quite honestly frustrated. Because he _did_ want to continue skiing. He just didn't think that in his current physical state he could.

As the others gathered up their trash from lunch and stood, Axel remained seated, flexing his arches painfully within his boots. "I…think I need a break here," he said.

Demyx opened his mouth as though to protest, but Axel held up a hand before he could get a word out. "Just for a few hours," he said. "I really will end up killing myself out there if I don't get off my feet for a little while."

Demyx still didn't look convinced. "What're you gonna do while we're out on the slopes?"

Shrugging a little, Axel picked at a piece of his leftover hot dog bun. "I dunno. I may just walk around the square and try to work out some of the kinks in my legs." He turned his gaze to Zexion. "How'd that work out for you?"

Zexion nodded encouragingly. "It certainly helped."

Mimicking the motion, Axel slid his ski helmet under one arm. "Cool. When I'm ready to get back out there, I'll shoot you a text and look for you near one of the lift lines. You've got your phone with you, right?"

"Yeah," Demyx said, patting his left breast pocket. "Someone's gotta take amazeballs selfies. Can't leave my Instagram followers hanging, ya know."

"I'm sure." This time it was Axel who rolled his eyes, although by the looks of things, he hadn't been the only one.

"See you later, man. Rest up and then we'll do some evening runs!"

Then they were off, leaving Axel on his own, still feeling like he was boiling in the unrelenting sun.

o - o

He walked along the edge of the square, reveling in the sights, taking in the fresh mountain air. Shops lined the corners, some ski-related, others more touristy in nature. This interior part of the resort that all of their hotel windows faced out onto wasn't empty, but with most people out on the slopes, Axel found the atmosphere relaxed and rather peaceful.

It was amazing what a hot shower and a comfortable pair of shoes could do for one's morale, he mused. He could almost see himself getting back into ski gear and returning to his friends on the slopes right now.

Almost.

First, he needed to walk off the leg cramps, give the aspirin time to take effect. The square seemed as good a place as any to do that in. And, with the sun still high up above and still beating strongly on down, Axel found himself comfortable enough to just wear a regular pair of jeans and a long-sleeved shirt. Not bad at all.

There was a small crowd forming over by the ice rink, which occasionally burst out into cheers and applause. Mildly curious, Axel angled his walking path toward the square's center, half expecting to see Zexion performing all manner of complicated skating tricks. After all, he'd had an entire evening to learn all about the physics behind the sport, apparently, Axel thought with mild amusement. After this trip, nothing was really going to surprise him about his scholarly classmate anymore.

What he saw instead made Axel's eyes widen. His jaw might've dropped slightly too before he caught himself and forced a more neutral expression back onto his face.

There, at center ice, was his little blond crush from yesterday. And he was skating like a motherfucking Olympic pro.

It took Axel a moment longer to realize the blond boy wasn't alone on the ice, that there were others present, albeit generally hanging onto the side boards for dear life, or simply watching with appreciation as the blond executed a complicated line of footwork next to the girl he'd been sitting by on yesterday's lift ride. Between the two of them, the crowd seemed completely rapt with attention as the two joined hands, skated together once around the cramped confines of the tiny rink with sure, strong strokes, before separating. The girl headed toward the direct center of the little rink, executed an upright spin, her back arched, arms up in a semi-circle above her chest. It was pretty, but Axel found himself stuck on the guy skating backward crossovers around her, picking up speed as he headed Axel's way.

For a brief moment, their eyes met, and the blond's face lit with recognition. He shot Axel a smile before he broke eye contact, looking up in the direction he was skating. A gliding pause on one foot, then the boy stepped forward, up, up into the air, rotating so quickly Axel found himself unable to count the rotations in the half second it took for him to return to the ground, left leg outstretched behind him in a strong landing position.

The girl followed suit, tracing her companion's path and completing a similar jump a moment later. The difference was stark between her grace and the guy's strength. Both were impressive, but Axel definitely knew which one he personally preferred.

Axel joined in as the people who'd gathered to watch clapped appreciatively. Both skaters offered gracious smiles, the girl curtsying before returning to the center of the small rink to perform another spin.

The blond haired, blue eyed guy, on the other hand, was making a beeline directly over to Axel, offering the same friendly smile that had nearly melted Axel straight off the lift the day before. He came to an easy stop at the rink's edge, leaning comfortably against the barrier between the ice and the concrete that made up the rest of the square.

"What a coincidence, seeing you here, when I was doing that jump," he said, blue eyes sparkling, a teasing smile playing across his lips. The young man's pale skin was colored from the exertion, his cheeks an alluring flush of pink.

And then there was that sexy little accent…

For a moment, Axel felt himself forget how to process English sentences into coherent meaning. "Coincidence?" he asked, voice conveying his confusion.

"Axel," the boy said, still smiling as the redhead jerked his chin up at the sound of his name. "The jump I just did, it is called a double axel."

_"That's really fucking coincidental, huh?"_

The conversation from yesterday's lift ride came back to him, clearing up the confusion he'd felt before. Too bad it also brought up the memory of another redhead tousling up a young blond's hair like he very clearly owned it.

Axel swallowed, tried to keep his emotions to himself. "So, you're a figure skater… who snowboards."

"Whose name is Roxas," the boy supplied.

_Roxas_.

Axel shifted his weight between feet, unsure what to say that wouldn't totally sound idiotic at the moment. Usually he was a helluva lot smoother than this.

"My cousin Sora is the snowboard prodigy," Roxas said, straightening up. "He is hoping to represent Canada at the next Olympics." As he continued to speak, Roxas made little turns in place on the ice, swiveling his hips back and forth with each successive twist. It seemed like he was moving unconsciously, maybe out of habit. In form-fitting black skating pants though, it gave Axel more than enough opportunity to see the blond from every conceivable angle.

_Oh, man…_

"I'm not bad at snowboarding, I don't think," Roxas continued, oblivious to Axel's wandering gaze, "but I am trained in pairs skating with my sister," here, he turned, finger pointing toward the girl still spinning at center ice, "Naminé." Roxas' voice rose as he spoke her name just at the moment she was coming out of a spin. Beckoning her over with his hand, Roxas turned back toward Axel.

"And you are a skier, _non_?"

"No." Axel shook his head. "At least, not really," he hastened to correct. "I'm just here on vacation with friends, but I'm not a professional or anything."

Naminé glided to a stop near her brother, offered Axel a shy smile, before looking back over at her brother. "I feel like we're being show-offs," she said, her expression mildly worried.

Roxas shrugged. "No one seems to be bothered. We're just practicing, not getting in anyone's way." He reached for his sister's hand, squeezed it encouragingly for a moment as his eyes moved back to Axel. "You weren't bothered, right?"

_Not in _that_ way, at least…_

"I thought it was…" Axel paused to consider his word choice, eyes still taking the blond in with appreciation. "Impressive, actually."

And then, feeling a bit daring, Axel continued. "But your boyfriend didn't come to watch?"

At this, Roxas cocked his head a little, looked confused, his lips forming a thin line as he seemed to consider Axel's question. "Which one?"

By his side, Naminé giggled a little, said something in French that Axel didn't catch. Then, in English, "go show me the death drop spin again, please. I want to see how it looks from this angle."

Nodding, expression distracted, Roxas turned to comply, stopping only a moment to flash another gorgeous smile Axel's way. "Nice chatting. See you again soon, I hope."

Roxas skated off, gliding back to the center, leaping into what to Axel seemed like a gravity-defying position before landing low in a blur of a sit spin. He watched intently, still feeling awed at the blond's ability. Hyper-focused on Roxas across the ice, Axel didn't realize that Naminé had discreetly moved closer to him until she chose that moment to speak up.

"It's clear," she said, her voice quiet but unquestionably directed Axel's way. "that my brother thinks you're very cute."

Then she was off as well, skating away before Axel could think to question her …or even manage to school the surprised expression off of his dumbstruck face.

o - o

Axel caught up with his group a little later. With the sun still hot above them, he'd opted for a t-shirt in lieu of a full ski jacket. So far, it'd been helping cut down on his discomfort considerably.

"Man, I wish I'd have thought about ditching my jacket," Demyx said upon seeing Axel. "I'm sweating balls."

"And you will be taking a shower before bed tonight as a direct result of that admission," Zexion replied. "Without question."

"Or he could just sleep in mine. Might as well let someone get some use out of it on this trip," Marluxia said, his expression smug.

For his part, Axel let his friends talk back and forth, only commenting when directly asked a question. His thoughts were still on Roxas, despite the realization that this was probably not a great idea. He was trying to get over the misery of a relationship that had ended due to cheating, for godssake. In a way, he thought, it was kind of fucked up that he was getting flirted with by someone else who clearly already had a boyfriend. Wasn't that exactly part of the problem with the relationship that had just ended? And was he being an utter douchebag for actually _liking_ the attention the blond had given him? Gah.

Axel tried to keep his mind off these thoughts, to let the challenge of intermediate ski runs distract him. The thing about skiing though was that it was a solo endeavor a lot of the time. It definitely required concentration on harder hills, but there was still plenty of time to get lost in one's own thoughts. To fall even more hopelessly in lust with a blond French Canadian he'd only just met on the most superficial of levels.

By the time Zexion bowed out, citing fatigue in the later part of the afternoon, Cloud and Leon had reappeared, and there was talk of getting one more run in before cleaning up and heading out to dinner. As they moved toward a selection of lifts that would take them to various different hills, Axel found himself only half listening to the chatter going on around him, his eyes drifting tiredly back toward the hill they'd just skied down.

It'd figure that that'd be the moment a familiar looking group appeared at the hill's crest, snowboards cutting smooth, clean lines down the hill as the four made their way off the final descent. Axel watched as they sped on past him, toward the center lift.

"…that one, do you think?" Axel felt someone tug at his shirt sleeve. Frustrated at the interruption, he turned toward Demyx, eyebrows raised.

"Well, man? You ready for it?"

Axel's gaze drifted back toward the group he'd just been eyeing. He nodded, distractedly. If it meant getting to see more of Roxas, that was fine by him, even if the view just happened to be on a lift chair from behind.

"Sweeeeet! This is gonna be awesomesauce."

It didn't occur to Axel to wonder why Demyx had been so excited to get on this particular lift, at least not when his focus was so obviously taken up by thoughts and clandestine glances at Roxas. He just simply got in line, with Marluxia and Demyx on either side. Vaguely, he became aware of music drifting out over the speakers set up for the people to listen to while waiting their turn to grab a lift chair.

It probably would've been preferable to have been paying more attention to his friends. If he had, Axel might not have seen the display of affection that played out before him just then a little further up the line, with Roxas brushing some of the redhead's hair out from under his jacket, only to have the man turn to him with a grin, then lean down and brush his lips against the willing blond's.

The level of heat Axel was feeling suddenly had nothing to do with the unforgiving sunlight directly above him.

He should've turned away, needed to stop gawking, at the very least. Yet Axel found he couldn't tear his eyes away from the pair of them, kissing with such comfortable intimacy. On one side of them, Riku slapped the redhead's shoulder, said something that made his companion smirk, although he did ultimately break contact with Roxas. In that moment, Axel decided, despite his seemingly tepid demeanor, he'd never think poorly of frickin' Silver ever again.

"What kind of shitty music is this?" Demyx's voice broke Axel out of his thoughts, allowed him to tear his eyes away from the group in front of him and look back over at his friends beside him now. It took him a moment longer to identify the song as Kansas' "Carry On My Wayward Son".

Cloud grimaced at the comment, but it was Leon who ultimately replied. "It's called classic rock, Dem."

As the line moved forward, a resort employee beckoned the five of them to grab the next approaching chair, and Demyx shrugged. "Whatever. It sounds like some crap my dad would listen to."

A debate about the quality of Demyx's music preferences wore on for the next ten minutes, Axel listening without contributing, until the lift dropped them off at their destination. Although he scanned the area, Axel saw no sign of Roxas or anyone from his group.

He waited along with the others as Demyx secured his free foot in the snowboard's bindings, idly wondering why Cloud and Leon hadn't already departed for a harder hill. Demyx hopped up, shifting his weight to gain some momentum on his board. "This way," he said, and the others followed closely behind.

Axel's uncertainty only increased when the sign at the hill's peak came into view.

"Errr… this is an advanced hill," Axel said, eyeing the black diamond symbol emblazoned on the sign in front of him with a sense of deep foreboding.

"His powers of deduction are astounding," Marluxia said with a wry smile. "Almost on par with Zexion's, I'd say."

Axel shot his friend a look, before scanning the other signs nearby. Nothing less than a black diamond on any of them. Some with two, which he guessed meant they were doubly hellish. "No, seriously," he said. "I'm not sure I'm ready to do something this hard."

"Well, you're going to have to get ready quickly," Cloud commented. "Because it's the only way off this mountain." He looked from Demyx to Marluxia and back again. "I thought Demyx cleared it with you."

"Dude, I did!" Demyx burst out. "I asked him if he thought he was ready to try something harder and he was cool with it."

"I did not—" Axel started but then shut his mouth. In truth, he couldn't remember exactly what he'd been asked because he'd been a little distracted by the tonsil hockey that had been unfolding in front of him.

Okay, fine. A lot distracted by it.

He suddenly felt a chill go through his body, shivering as a gust of icy air hit him full-on. Despite the sun, it was definitely colder at higher altitude than it'd been on the ground at the lift line. Probably a basic rule of science or something, he thought grouchily.

"Well, there's nothing we can do about it now," Demyx said, shrugging apologetically. "Just take it slow and we'll meet you at the bottom."

Axel bit his lip hard, trying to quell his rising trepidation. He was going to die up here, probably some embarrassing way like landing on his head, getting halfway buried under a snow drift, ass up and on display as the rescuers dug out his frozen carcass for the whole world to see.

Or maybe he was being a tad melodramatic. Always possible.

"You're serious," he said instead, teeth chattering audibly this time. Because taking it slow was going to be a piece of _cake_ on sore legs after the day he'd had.

"It's not really as bad as it seems, Axel," Marluxia said, giving his friend an encouraging, possibly pitying smile. "If you can handle a blue square, the same technique applies to harder hills. Just be observant and rest your legs whenever they start getting tired."

"Yeah, it's not like you're gonna have to do back flips off cliffs and shit to get down," Demyx added. "Just, uh, stay away from the mountain's ledge, avoid the moguls, and you'll be fine."

_That sounds really fucking simple, Dem. Thanks._

Axel was shivering too much to get another word out at the moment though. Instead, he steeled himself to suck it up and get a move on. The rest of the people in his group had already pushed off and were making their way down the first stretch of cliff-face masquerading as a ski slope. Although he tried his best to keep up, and it seemed that at least Demyx and Marluxia were occasionally checking back on his progress, Axel soon lost sight of all four as he slowed further and further down. The irony of his upper body being so cold was that his legs had begun to utterly burn once again under the strain of keeping his pace appropriately slow.

Holy shit, this was gonna suck.

A few people passed by him on their way down the hill. Axel noted that most were moving much more slowly than he'd seen some skiers take the beginner and intermediate level hills, which made him feel marginally better, until he realized he was still moving at the pace of a gimpy-ass snail.

He heard someone else approach from above, and forced himself to a stop to allow them to pass without having try to avoid him by accounting for each and every one of his erratic movements. Much to his surprise, he heard the person above him slow to a stop.

"A black diamond already?" If not for Axel's determination not to lose his balance and topple half a mile down a cliff, he would have turned immediately at the words. That voice just …_did_ something to him. By now he was starting to think he'd recognize it virtually anywhere. "Reno was right," the voice continued. "You do move quickly."

A flash of blond and Roxas had maneuvered his snowboard around Axel, hopped a sizable mound, and twisted a half-turn in mid-air. He landed facing Axel a few feet below him, skidded to a halt, and checked his balance lightly with his hands on the snow mound in front of him, a wide grin radiating across his flushed red face.

"I, uh…"

…_Got distracted by you sucking face with your boyfriend and didn't realize I'd agreed to a harder hill until it was too late to change my awkwardly lustful little mind._

Yeah, he so totally wasn't admitting to that.

"…Didn't realize there were gonna be little hills on this, um, hill," Axel finished lamely.

"Moguls," Roxas supplied. "They can be fun, but you need to have good balance. Strong abdominal muscles." His eyes flashed flirtatiously.

Suddenly, Axel wasn't feeling so cold anymore.

He also didn't know how to respond. Tentatively, he pushed off, made it about five feet before having to stop again, his right ski sliding dangerously close to the edge of one of those midget hills of doom.

Moguls, Axel reminded himself. Whatever.

For a moment, his upper body swayed as he tried to pick up his left ski and move it closer to his right one.

"Go around them," Roxas said. "Follow the paths between and use the…the sides?" He spoke a little slowly, as though unsure of the correct English words. "Use their sides to balance and slow down."

He moved away, weaving between a handful of the little mounds as an example. Axel watched, initially noting how, just as Roxas had claimed, the moguls could be used to keep a back-and-forth rhythm without actually having to fly up and over them. He had a feeling it was easier to do in theory than actual practice though.

Then, his gaze moved downward, taking in Roxas's slender legs and the snug ski pants, black and white patches of fabric that clung to his body just perfectly.

God damnit. He seriously couldn't win today.

Roxas stopped, looked up at Axel expectantly. Slowly, Axel copied the movement he'd just seen. He wasn't by any means as graceful as his new little companion, or as fast, but he still managed not to fall, angling his skis toward the young man after passing the last mound. He underestimated how long it'd take to stop though, found himself over-checking his balance to avoid hitting Roxas full-on. Roxas reached out, both to keep Axel on his feet and to help him come to a complete stop. He laughed a little breathlessly, a sound that made Axel's own breath catch as it reverberated from Roxas' chest into his own through their mutual touch.

"See?" Roxas said. "Not so bad."

It occurred to Axel that the only way he was going to make it down this hill in one piece was a direct result of Roxas' help. If it'd been anyone else, he'd have balked, would not have been willing to admit he was having difficulties. With Roxas, Axel hadn't even realized the blond had been helping until he'd just spoken. He offered Roxas a tentative smile of his own, acutely aware that their shoulders were still touching one another.

"Aren't you cold?" Roxas' breath was hot, creating a light frost against Axel's exposed arm.

_I won't be if you continue touching me like that…_

"Kind of fucking freezing actually," Axel admitted instead, grateful that there'd be no way to discern between a blush and rosy, half-frostbitten cheeks at the moment. "It was a lot warmer at ground level."

"We should get you there then," Roxas said, his voice much more subdued than it had been just moments before. "No freezing to death when I'm just getting to know you."

There it was again, that heat. It warmed his entire body, prickling pleasantly up and down his spine. And there they were again, those cerulean blue eyes, watching Axel with something a little more keen than simple curiosity.

If he were Marluxia, now would've been the prime time for a suggestive comment. Axel just bit his lip, pushed off again in front of the boy, and started another slow-ass attempt at getting down the godforsaken slope.

Their progress was slow, but Roxas never complained, never made a comment about the stupidity of skiing a hill well above his skill level. He simply boarded a few yards down, sometimes hopping moguls with an expression that bordered on unadulterated delight, then stopped to wait for Axel to catch up. Sometimes Axel would push off first and Roxas would follow, other times traveling a flatter, more horizontal line to give himself extra boarding time while Axel picked his way carefully downward on a more linear path.

It was nothing short of a supreme relief when Axel saw a fork in the hill and a sign that indicated an easier run was merging on his right.

Axel turned, intent on thanking Roxas and saying good-bye. It made sense the blond would prefer to stay on the more challenging slope. But Roxas had already sped on past him, angling his way toward the easier run. "I'll race you!" he called, arms outstretched, chin up as though savoring the icy air whipping against his skin.

For a moment, Axel just stared, took in the joyful expression on the young man's face, and allowed the frenzied fluttering in his stomach to blossom into full-out vibrations, a pulsing of undeniable attraction. Then he too was off, following the blond's descent, trying his best to keep up as Roxas weaved down the remainder of the slope at completely paralyzing, utterly _exhilarating_, breakneck speeds.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N**: Here's my only excuse for the delay in posting this (wait for it 'cause it's a good one): I got _freaking pneumonia_ on the heels of a viral infection. Not kidding. I failed my daily writing streak so hard just trying to ensure I was getting adequate air into my useless lungs for two weeks, and I'm still sick right now. But it's Camp NaNoWriMo month, and I'll be damned if that keeps me from my word count goal - or from finishing this fic. So here you have it. The final installment. It gets a little racy but I don't think it really warrants a higher rating, so I'm keeping it at T. Thanks for your patience. Being sick sucks. I hope this was worth the wait.

Also, since a few people have asked, yes, I'm considering a sequel to this (just not sure when I'll have time to write it yet). It'll follow Roxas' POV though, for sure. Put me on author alert if you want to be notified when it starts going up. And thanks to those who left such nice reviews.

* * *

"_Mon dieu_! Are you okay?"

Axel groaned, looked up into concerned blue eyes. Jesus, had he really just fallen on the final, nearly _flat_ track of ground leading back to the ski lifts?

And he'd been doing so well on the diamond hill. That's what he got for paying more attention to his companion's ass than his own. Karma was such a motherfucking bitch.

"Fine, yeah," he said shortly, a feeling of undeniable embarrassment washing over him. Demyx and the others were probably laughing their asses off at this fine display of athletic prowess, he figured.

Axel sat up, then winced. Above him, Roxas' brows knitted together, a look of worry flickering across his features.

"_Ouh non_, you've cut yourself. We shouldn't have raced..."

"What?" Axel looked down, realized Roxas was right. He'd scraped the exposed skin on his elbow practically raw against the snow as he'd fallen. It wasn't a deep cut, but it certainly was bleeding.

"It was my fault," Axel said, trying to shrug it off, ignoring Roxas' outstretched hand as he tried to push himself up on his own.

One guess how well that went when he was already exhausted and now, in the blond's presence, additionally flustered to all hell.

Axel plopped back down ungracefully onto his backside in front of Roxas, who merely rolled his eyes a little before grabbing Axel by his uninjured elbow and helping him regain his footing. Surreptitiously scanning their surroundings, Axel felt a modicum of relief that his friends, at least, didn't seem to be anywhere in the vicinity to have witnessed his latest skiing-related spectacle.

"I feel so bad," Roxas said, looking up with such sorrowful eyes that Axel found himself wanting to provide some comfort of his own, even though the blond stood before him completely unharmed.

"Don't," Axel said. "I just lost my concentration for a second," he pulled his ski helmet off, smoothed back wayward strands of red hair, "and that was apparently one second too many."

Looking unconvinced, Roxas turned. "Sora!" he yelled, making Axel jump slightly at the volume of the sound. Axel looked up in the direction Roxas was focused on. Sure enough, Sora and Riku were there, by the equipment check-in area. At the sound of his cousin's voice, Sora turned and began to sprint toward the two of them. Apparently snowboard shoes had more bend in them than ski boots, Axel noted.

Sora pulled up to a stop beside Roxas, looking between the pair of them curiously as Roxas fired off a string of sentences in rapid French. The brunet's eyes dropped to Axel's elbow, eyes widening slightly in comprehension. "_Pauvre gars_," he commented, his voice sympathetic. Roxas spoke again, this time his tone upturned as if he'd asked a question. Axel simply stood, listening to the incomprehensible exchange with a moderate level of uncertainty.

"Here," Sora said, switching to English. "Let me take those." He grabbed the ski poles before Axel could protest, then pointed downward, toward the skis.

"Wha— oh, that's not necessary," Axel said, suddenly unsure of what to do without his arms preoccupied with holding onto the poles.

Roxas made an impatient sound at the back of his throat. "No, no. I insist. You will be coming with me. Take them off." He inclined his head, a wisp of thick hair falling into his eyes as he looked up at Axel through subtly blond lashes.

"Um." Axel was finding himself tongue-tied again when distracted by such a handsome face. "O-okay."

Seemingly satisfied, Roxas stepped back, allowing Sora to hop behind Axel, angling the tip of one pole into a groove at the back of Axel's ski bindings. "Up!" he said, as he thrust the pole down. Axel did as instructed, feeling his heel separate from the ski with Sora's help. Well, _that_ was a cool trick. Axel tried to remember if he'd seen Marluxia or anyone else in his group do something similar to get their skis off since they'd arrived here. If not, boy, was he going to enjoy showing them something new the next time they skied together.

Once freed from the skis, Axel stepped away, watching as Sora connected them together, bindings facing apart, before securing the poles around either side. The final result was a single piece of equipment, which the short boy balanced easily over one shoulder. "I'll give you the check-in receipt later," Sora said, before turning to Roxas, "or give it to you to give to him."

Then he was off, moving with surprising agility across the packed-down snow, dodging other resort patrons on his way over to the equipment check.

"Now you," Roxas said, moving toward Axel once more. Before Axel could speak, Roxas had dropped to one knee in front of him, was tugging at the elastic band that prevented snow from seeping in to his boot at the bottom of his ski pants. Bewildered by the action the blond had just taken, Axel simply watched. He heard a click, then a snap as the upper two latches on his right ski boot released, allowing his leg more range of movement. Then Roxas got to work on the left foot.

Once done, he stood, looking accomplished. "You can walk better now. Follow me."

And so he could, Axel realized, surprised. This was _way_ easier than walking around like a robot, shins painfully throbbing as he tried to bend his ankles on concrete walkways in completely unyielding boots. You learn something new every day, he guessed.

Or several things today, come to think.

It took him a few minutes of following Roxas in silence as they made their way back to the hotel square before Axel thought to wonder about their ultimate destination.

"So, where are we going now?" he finally asked as they passed the ice rink over to the other side of the shopping area.

"My place," Roxas said simply. "I want to get you some ice and a…eum, a cover? For your arm."

Axel quirked his head, trying to understand. "You mean a bandage?"

"Yah, that's what I meant. Sorry," Roxas said, turning back toward Axel and offering up an apologetic expression. "Sometimes I wish I'd studied better in school. My English is really shit."

"Miles better than my French…"

At this, Roxas stopped, grinning back at him. "You just need someone to practice with." And then, Axel could've sworn, the blond's eyebrows waggled in a way suspiciously similar to Marluxia's only just yesterday morning. The expression had mildly annoyed Axel at the time, even though he knew his friend had been joking. Now, the very same expression was causing a pleasant tightness in his stomach, a heat that was traveling ever so slowly downward by the second…

Axel stopped, feeling suddenly self-conscious. "You don't really need to do this," he said. "I mean, it's really nice of you and all, but I can get a bandage from the resort. I really don't want to impose."

For a moment, Roxas merely looked at Axel, as though trying to evaluate the words. "But I want to…" he said, voice soft, eyes watchful. He seemed almost vulnerable as he spoke, suddenly uncertain. It tugged at Axel's heart in an odd, aching way. And, well, who was he to refuse someone who seemed so genuine, someone who by all accounts was the sole reason he had only managed to sustain one measly elbow scrape, rather than something considerably more severe on the black diamond hill itself?

With only a moment's additional pause to consider what he was getting himself into, Axel finally inclined his head, acquiescing. "Alright," he said. "Lead the way."

o - o

The apartment where Roxas and his friends were staying was nearly identical to the one Axel and his friends were in. Three bedrooms. Living area overlooking the center square. Even a little kitchenette off near the entrance.

The one primary difference was, simply, that Roxas was there, and they were alone.

Wasting no time once they'd entered the space, Roxas stepped out of his ski boots, indicating that Axel should do the same with a small gesture, before sprinting into the living area, off into one bedroom, and out of Axel's sight.

Axel slid off his ski boots more slowly, stretching the aching arches of his feet with care as he entered further into the space.

"I'm in the third bedroom!" Axel heard a voice call out. He walked past the living area and entered the room, surveying it with a brief scan of his eyes. This was the room Cloud and Leon had called dibs on back in his own place, the only room with an ensuite bathroom. And, just like at his place, there was only one bed, Axel realized with an annoying pang of jealousy.

The light to the bathroom was on, and Axel could hear the sound of someone rummaging, voice muffled as Roxas continued speaking, this time in muttered French.

"_Je sais que j'ai vu …quelque chose qui serait …approprié pour toi_."

The words were airy, but unfamiliar to Axel. Not for the first time since encountering Roxas, Axel silently berated himself for having taken stupid, utterly_ useless_ Spanish in high school.

He hazarded a glance into the bathroom, felt the telltale heat creep into his cheeks at the sight of Roxas on his knees, digging around under the bathroom sink's counter, one well-defined ass in plain view. Still, Axel couldn't help but look his little skiing savior over with considerable appreciation as the young man continued to search obliviously before him.

Besides, what was the harm? It's not like he'd nearly broken his arm in two the last time he copped a glance at the guy's back-end or anything…

"Ah, found it!"

Roxas emerged with an armful of medical supplies, expression triumphant, only for the smile to freeze a moment later as he caught sight of Axel by the doorway. For his part, Axel looked quickly upward, trying to school his own expression into one of adequate innocence.

With a small, almost knowing smile, Roxas stood, brushing past Axel and returning to the bedroom. "Come here," he called. "I'll fix you up."

Axel followed at Roxas' heels, sitting down at the foot of the bed at the blond's gestured behest.

Depositing the supplies on the bed next to Axel, Roxas stepped back, unzipped his ski jacket and shrugged out of it, leaving him standing before Axel in a form-fitting black and white t-shirt that complimented the checkered swatches on his ski pants. Everything about him was just so …_cute_, that Axel found himself not really paying attention to Roxas' initial ministrations on his injured arm.

The splash of rubbing alcohol, brushed against his elbow with a swatch of washcloth, definitely brought his attention back to the present though. Before Axel could stop himself, he visibly winced at the tingling sting working its way over the raw skin of his arm.

Roxas paused, glanced upward, away from Axel's arm to meet his gaze. "Sorry," he said, his smile apologetic and sincere.

"It's fine," Axel said, shrugging a little as he watched Roxas clean the area, then wrap it securely with gauze in a criss-crossing pattern, over the upper and lower fold of his elbow, before fixing it in place with a piece of medical tape. The thrill of having a cute blond guy touching him, even if it was just to wrap a bandage around his scraped elbow, wasn't lost on Axel — nor was the fact that Roxas seemed to have come prepped with a full-blown first aid kit.

"You're sure prepared for injuries," Axel said, attempting to kickstart more conversation and offer up an easygoing smile in the process.

Matching his smile, Roxas moved closer, chest pressing lightly against Axel's shoulder as he leaned in toward the side of Axel's face. "I come prepared for many things," he breathed, voice just above a whisper. If that wasn't enough to make a pleasant shiver travel up Axel's spine, the gentle kiss at the base of his neck definitely was.

Axel's breath hitched and he turned his head in surprise …right into Roxas' waiting lips. For a moment, both remained still, Axel's eyes open in shock, Roxas' comfortably, sweetly closed. Then Roxas pressed himself more insistently against Axel's mouth, tongue gentle but confidently parting Axel's lips to deepen the kiss, hands briefly tangling in thick, red hair as they traveled from Axel's head down further to his neck and upper back.

Throbbing elbow soon forgotten, Axel found his mind whirling with muddled thoughts. Everything from how this had happened in the first place to oh-my-god-this-is-_fantastic_ rushed through his mind as Axel felt Roxas shift his weight, swinging a leg over his lap to straddle him on the bed, a practiced movement that didn't even break their initial, continuing contact.

That wasn't the only thing Roxas had practice at, Axel realized, as the blond on top of him began to apply slow, rhythmic pressure to his lap. Axel heard himself swallow a groan, then felt more than actually saw the curve of a smile appear on Roxas' lips in response.

Axel found himself pressing back, or at least trying to, not having the same level of control as the blond on top of him from his current position under Roxas on the bed.

God, this was hot.

Too hot, Axel soon realized, as the heat rose between them, trapped in clothing meant to retain body warmth, rather than release it.

Roxas seemed to notice the same thing, for a moment later, he was pulling away from Axel, tugging his t-shirt off, to reveal a flat stomach, slim waist, then pert nipples below the lithe muscles of a subtly defined collarbone.

This time, Axel took the young man in without a hint at trying to conceal his gaze. Roxas looked back, remaining in place, allowing Axel's eyes to travel his body as he continued to lightly grind his hips downward, blue eyes wide, as a ghost of a smile appeared at the corners of his mouth.

"Like what you see?" Roxas' voice was breathless, husky, and Axel felt his mouth open a little, jaw hanging as he grappled for an adequate response.

_Brz-brzzzzt_!

Both men started as the faint sound repeated, cell phone vibrating against Axel's hip.

Now it was Axel's turn to shoot Roxas an apologetic look as he slid his hand into his pocket and retrieved the object making the offending sound.

One glance at it and Axel was groaning in an entirely different kind of way as he typed in the security code to answer Demyx's text as to his current whereabouts.

"Sorry," he offered as Roxas looked on with curiosity. "I was supposed to meet up with my friends, but they weren't there when I—"

The explanation was cut off as Axel felt himself being gently pushed backward more fully onto the bed with one of Roxas' hands. The other reached forward, effectively snatching the phone from his grip as the blond remained above him still pinning his hips to the mattress between both knees. Axel watched with a curious sense of déjà vu from this morning as he saw Roxas type a rapid response with two fingers. This time, Axel remained quiet, intrigued as to what the blond could be possibly saying to someone he didn't even know.

"There," Roxas said, looking at the phone screen with a satisfied expression before placing it almost daintily like an offering on Axel's chest.

Axel lifted his head, just enough to see Roxas' response.

_Can't talk now. Getting laid._

"Now they won't worry, you see," Roxas said, offering Axel a toothy grin.

Eyes widening as he processed the words, Axel opened his mouth — to say what, he couldn't even fathom.

Before he could think of anything, a response came in from Demyx.

_Oh! Cool. Carry on._

And then, a second message.

_Go get 'em, tiger. Rawwr._

Well, now he had plenty of words, just none of them very coherent. The first that managed to eke their way out of Axel's throat ended up being an incredulous "oh, my god."

For his part, Roxas didn't seem to have read Demyx's responses. He merely quirked his head to one side as he looked down at Axel. "What? Was my English wrong?"

"No…" Axel dropped his head back against the mattress, felt his cell phone slide off his chest and onto the bed beside him.

"Then, no problem, yah?" Axel felt Roxas shift his weight above him, until his palms rested next to both of Axel's shoulders. He leaned forward, pressing his lips against Axel's again in a second, sensual kiss.

Yeah… Axel's thoughts echoed Roxas' final word, feeling his resolve weaken under Roxas' ministrations.

Well…but…except…

"Mm, w-wait, no," he said, gently pushing the blond away, just slightly. Above him, Roxas stopped, his body still just a few inches above Axel, blue eyes watching green inquisitively.

"It's just that…" Axel found himself stammering, unsure of really what he was going to say.

_Focus! For god's sake, focus for, like five seconds here, will you?_

"I'm, uh …well, you're dating that other guy, right?"

Roxas remained silent above him, eyebrows raised. Desperately, Axel tried to search the recesses of his memory for a better explanation — or, hell, just a name. It started with an R, he thought. Some city name. Raleigh… Ruso… Rio fucking de Janeiro?

"Reno!" he was finally able to spit out. "You're dating Reno …right?"

An expression of understanding passed over Roxas' face. "Yes," he answered, nodding his head in slight affirmation. "Well, kind of."

It was Axel's turn to shoot Roxas a questioning look.

"It's nothing to worry about," Roxas supplemented, voice soothing, as he leaned forward to plant a soft kiss at the base of Axel's throat. And then another. "Our relationship is casual. Open. He won't care."

And another, this time with a flick of tongue.

Axel stifled the rising moan, tried desperately to keep focus as Roxas' actions began to shoot more pleasant heat through his body. He was only successful with the first attempt, because a moment later, Roxas slid a hand teasingly down his side, then up and under his shirt…

"I'm just _nnn_—not super comfortable with open relationships," Axel finally managed get out.

"I see." Roxas chuckled, the sound muffled against Axel's neck as his roaming fingers curled against the bare skin of Axel's stomach, scratching teasingly. "Good thing you're not in one then."

Axel momentarily froze at the comment. He hadn't thought of it that way before, but Roxas …kind of had a point. _He_ wasn't cheating on anyone, and neither technically was Roxas if what he'd said about his relationship with Reno was true. What they were doing now was a little different than what Axel's ex had pulled on him.

Okay, it was one hundred percent different, come to think. And the fear of not having a connection with the person he was being intimate with — up until now Axel's biggest hesitation about having a casual encounter like this — certainly didn't seem to be an issue if the easy way he and Roxas had been chatting each other up since they'd first met was any indication.

Unaware of Axel's conflicting thoughts, Roxas continued exploring under Axel's shirt with one hand, his lips trailing a burning path from Axel's throat to his jaw and over to the corner of his mouth. Still tense, Axel found himself turning toward Roxas almost involuntarily, kissing him back. Giving in.

"I just had a bad experience," Axel said a bit breathlessly during a moment's pause between kisses, still wanting to explain, "with the last guy I was with."

Making a sympathetic sound at the back of his throat, Roxas' hand slid downward, unhooking the top button of Axel's ski pants. The blond sat up and scooted slightly forward, upper body still twisted as he unbuttoned the second snap, then slowly let his fingers travel over the zipper of Axel's pants.

"Then, I suppose," he said, looking back at Axel over one shoulder, blue eyes shining in the dim light of the room, impish grin making Axel's chest tighten with nervous, heady anticipation. "it is up to me to show you something completely different, _d'accord_?"

And although Axel didn't exactly know what the last word Roxas had uttered meant, at this point, in this moment, with Roxas half naked and legs straddled on top of him, he found that pretty much anything other than one specific blond and the actions he was currently performing mattered very freaking little...

o - o

Stifling the third yawn that had threatened to force its way out in the past five minutes, Axel rolled the last of his ski gear up tightly and deposited it into a snug corner of his suitcase. He stood, surveying his work with bleary eyes.

It was way too early to be up, even if they did have a flight to catch. Marluxia hadn't even bothered to go to bed the night before, Axel noted, taking in the by now familiar sight of his friend's unslept-in bed. It bothered him far less than it had at the beginning of this trip, just a few short days ago.

He knelt down, zipped up his bag, then performed a final scan of the room, making sure he hadn't left anything behind. The action caused some soreness, from the excess of bodily exertion he'd engaged in both on and off the slopes this week. The realization brought a slight albeit wholly smug smile to Axel's face as he leant over and retrieved his bag. It was one he made sure to wipe clear off his face before exiting his bedroom into the main living space.

Leon and Cloud had yet to emerge from their bedroom, although they were awake, if the sliver a light emitting from under their door was any indication. Calm as ever, Axel saw Zexion seated in a chair by the large picture windows across the room, thick hair obscuring half his expression, college textbook comfortably in hand.

Between them, a pile of luggage was beginning to form. Axel made his way toward it, dropping his own bags on top of one he recognized as Demyx's, before continuing over to where Zexion was sitting. For a moment, the two stood in silence, Axel leaning leaning against the wall, as he stole a quick, hopeful glance out the window and down at the ice rink in the square below, even though he knew it was too early for it to be open — and he hadn't seen any sign of the blond he was looking for in the last twenty four hours anyway.

"You had a good time, I take it," Zexion said, breaking Axel's concentration on the empty rink below. Axel turned, regarding his classmate whose book was still cracked open and resting on his lap in front of him.

"Yeah," Axel said, "despite my initial doubts."

Zexion's one visible eye darted up, caught Axel's gaze for a moment before returning to the text in his lap. "Demyx will be gloating about this for weeks, I suspect."

"Probably, yeah," Axel said, feeling a smile tug at the corners of his mouth. "Where is he anyway?"

"Over at the resort securing our ride to the airport," Zexion said, turning a page in his book. "And Marluxia said he'd meet us there."

Of course he would, Axel found himself thinking, although this time with a heck of a lot less cynicism. What a difference the span of a week could make, he supposed.

The sound of a door opening directed his attention up and back toward the bedroom area as Cloud and Leon appeared, luggage in tow. They made a beeline in the direction Axel had taken just minutes before, depositing their bags in the growing pile of luggage at the center of the room.

"Everything in order with the ride?" Leon asked.

When Zexion didn't immediately answer, Axel nodded for him. "Demyx is handling it."

"Which means it's a toss-up as to whether we're going to make our flight or if he got distracted and ended up half a town away, chatting up a local park ranger," Cloud said, a scowl etched across his features.

"I'm going to hazard a guess that Cloud's not a morning person," Zexion said, eyes still trained on his book.

Leon smiled, then planted a quick kiss on his glowering boyfriend's cheek. "Was it the good-natured retort or his bubbly disposition that tipped you off first?"

At that moment, the outside door burst opened, revealing a red-faced Demyx as he bounded into the room. "Ride's here! Everyone grab their shit so we can get going."

Dutifully, Zexion snapped his book closed, storing it away in a small messenger bag before following Axel over to retrieve his larger suitcase. They exited the apartment, walked over to the waiting shuttle, and piled their luggage into the back before finding seats and buckling themselves in.

"Damn, it's way colder now than it was all week," Demyx commented as he plopped down in the middle seat between Axel and Zexion. "Guess we got here for the good weather. How's that for karma?"

On his far side, Axel heard Zexion sigh and launch into an explanation of what karma actually was. For his part, Axel tuned them out, unable to help himself as he gazed back across the square over to the ice rink one more time. That wasn't the only good thing they'd encountered on their week here, he thought, mind wandering back to the moments he'd spent with Roxas over the past few days, both on and off the ski runs.

As the shuttle's ignition turned and they pulled away from the resort, it was Axel's turn to sigh.

Good encounters, indeed. It was just too bad it all had to come to an end.

o - o

Forty minutes later, they'd arrived at the airport in Salt Lake City and checked most of their heavy luggage before venturing through security en route to the gate for their flight home. Marluxia had already arrived, was flipping through a magazine and looking relatively unruffled given the hour of morning and what he'd probably been up to beforehand, Axel noted.

Cloud's mood didn't seem to have lifted, and even Zexion was looking a bit harangued after nearly an hour of shuttle ride listening to Demyx's excited chatter about plans for their next group trip. It was with those considerations in mind that Axel volunteered himself, Cloud, and Zexion to go grab coffee and other breakfast-type food while they waited for their flight to start boarding. Better to deal with the sleepy grouches than an overly talkative Demyx, he figured. Sorry, Leon.

They made their way toward a nearby airport coffee kiosk in silence, Zexion and Cloud trailing slightly behind Axel as he led the way, only half paying attention to his surroundings himself while he walked.

It'd been a good week, he had to admit. Good, but unexpected. Once Demyx had figured out who he'd been with that second day, Axel'd had to deal with considerable ribbing, and more than a few smug looks from Marluxia. It'd bothered him less than he'd thought it initially might, possibly due to Roxas' expertise at distracting him whenever they were together. Their ski group had quickly befriended the members of Roxas', joining up and sorting themselves based on experience level on the hills, as well as meeting for drinks and food some evenings afterward. Initially concerned it'd be awkward to be around Reno after his first encounter with Roxas, Axel found the other redhead to be rather nonchalant about the entire affair. With Roxas' easygoing demeanor, Axel hadn't felt anything beyond a mild apprehension of his own making the first time they'd all run into one another the next day.

In fact, the only one who hadn't seemed entirely satisfied with their newfound acquaintances was Marluxia, Axel thought with more than a little amusement. That was only because, much to Marluxia's considerable disappointment, he'd been quick to discover that, unlike Roxas with Reno, Riku's and Sora's relationship was much less open to new, interested additions.

It didn't stop him from flirting with the silver-haired man whenever the chance arose though, Axel had noted. Some things really never changed.

The trio filed into line at the kiosk, each lost in their own thoughts until reaching the counter. There, they each ordered something for themselves and one of their group members who had remained behind.

They retrieved their purchases and began the walk back to the gate area, balancing a drink and breakfast sandwich in each hand. A hint of blond caught Axel's eye out of the corner of his peripheral vision and he stopped abruptly, almost colliding directly with Cloud who'd been walking closely behind him.

"Shit, Axel," Cloud muttered. "A little warning next time you're going to stop on a dime."

But Axel wasn't listening, attention directed in front of him, right outside the entrance to the men's restroom.

"You guys go ahead," he said. "I'll catch up in a sec."

Cloud opened his mouth as if to protest. Apparently seeing where Axel's attention had diverted, Zexion cut in before the grouchy blond could get another word in. "That's fine," he said. "Between the two of us, we can bring Marluxia's food back to him."

Brows furrowing, Cloud scowled but said nothing as Axel transferred half of the breakfast food into his friends' outstretched hands. Apparently not capable of leaving without saying something, Cloud glanced back at Axel one last time as Zexion nudged him forward. "We're boarding in twenty. Pay better attention to the time than you did to where you were walking, or the plane's going to leave without you."

"Right…" Axel said, not really hearing the words as he strode forward toward the object of his current attention, whose back was currently turned toward him.

He slowed down as he got nearer, feeling a little more hesitant the closer he got until he stopped himself completely an arm's distance away. Tentatively reaching out, he tapped the girl's shoulder at the same time he offered a greeting.

"Hey…Naminé?"

The girl turned, then looked up into Axel's eyes, her face breaking into a smile as she recognized him.

"Axel! Hello. You're flying home today too?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Early flight."

Naminé scrunched up her nose a little in sympathy. "The same for us. Riku and Reno are so lucky they don't have to be here until noon."

Axel nodded again, trying to work through the logistics of what was bothering him about seeing Naminé here — apart from the fact that, having not seen their group in over a day, he's assumed they'd already actually left. Having woken up so early, his mind felt more sluggish than usual, working its way in round-about fashion to the question he'd been pondering. Naminé didn't seem to be bothered by the silence that was settling between them, at least.

Finally, it came to him.

"Shouldn't you guys be in the international terminal?" he asked.

"Not if we have a layover through Philly," a familiar voice called out, sending a pleasant shiver of recognition through Axel's limbs. It was strange how just the tone of a voice he wasn't sure he'd ever hear again could make his legs go so instantly weak. Without even turning, he could already sense the smile on Roxas' face.

The young man emerged from the bathroom, with Sora a few steps behind. Both smiled brightly upon seeing Axel.

"And here I thought I had missed you," the blond said, eyebrows raised, expression warm and open.

"I thought you'd already left too," Axel confessed, feeling relieved at the same time that a tingling heat began to creep up from his chest into his neck. Even in street clothing, Roxas was as cute as ever. Cuter, maybe, he thought, as he took in the blond's hip-hugging jeans and slimming black coat.

Exchanging looks with Sora, Naminé turned to Roxas, resting a small hand on his arm to get his attention. She said something in French before retrieving her carry-on, hooking arms with her cousin, and pulling him away toward the gates. In expert fashion, Naminé had just offered Axel and Roxas a private moment to talk.

"Yah, we had a change of plans," Roxas said, sliding a hand behind his neck, then up into his hair in an attempt to smooth an unruly blond tuft. "We left the resort early to stay with Reno's friend in the city yesterday."

"Ah," Axel said, suddenly finding himself at a loss for words. He hadn't anticipated running into Roxas again. Ever, actually. In the back of his mind, he'd wanted to ask for Roxas' contact info at some point throughout the week, even just an email address so they could keep in touch. But then he remembered what this thing between them was — a casual, vacation fling. Did Marluxia ask for the email addresses of his one-night fucks, for godssake? So Axel had kept quiet during each and every one of their encounters, had told himself to just enjoy the experience and the time spent together, then prepare to go home. To move on.

Now that they were definitely talking for the last time before both flew back to their respective cities, Axel again found himself tongue-tied. He shifted between both feet, then raised the coffee cup up to his lips in an attempt to keep himself from looking as awkward as he definitely felt at the moment.

Oblivious to Axel's discomfort, Roxas grabbed his backpack, slinging it over one shoulder as he began walking away from the bathroom. He inclined his head in the direction he was headed, indicating Axel should follow.

They weaved their way around other travelers, back in the direction of the gate area. Before reaching the first gate, Roxas ducked into a small hallway, in between the area walled off for smokers and the gates themselves. Given the door at the end of the hideaway, it was likely a space used by airport employees, maybe as storage or to hold cleaning supplies, Axel figured.

Before Axel could think of anything to say, Roxas dropped his backpack and cleared the distance between the two of them, standing on his tiptoes as he wrapped his arms around Axel's neck, pulling him closer into an affectionate, lingering kiss.

"You should come to Montreal," Roxas said close to Axel's ear, voice hardly above a breathy whisper.

"Um…" Between the sleep deprivation and distraction from Roxas' physical proximity, Axel was finding it difficult to think rationally. "I'm not sure how… I mean, I don't think I can just change flights like that."

Plus, school was starting back up on Monday, and his friends would think he was nuts, and…

Roxas leaned in closer, pressing himself against Axel whose back met the hallway wall, bracing himself and Roxas both. The action effectively shut up his racing thoughts as he started thinking more about the actions of the blond in front of him — and the fact that they weren't exactly somewhere super private at the moment. Things were just getting so hot …so quickly. A-freaking-gain.

"Do you know how Reno and I met?" Roxas asked suddenly, nuzzling Axel's throat a little before flicking his tongue lightly against the spot he'd just kissed. If not for the mention of Reno, Axel might have forgotten himself entirely and actually let out an audible moan.

But, surprised by the change in subject, and more than a little turned off at the mention of the other redhead, Axel straightened up, gently disentangling himself from the blond so he could better sort his thoughts. Unconsciously, the fingers of his free hand balled into a fist at the annoying thought that Reno had managed to do anything first with Roxas, including the simple act of even just meeting him.

"Uh, no. I don't."

At first, Roxas just grinned. Then, he took a few steps back, leaning against the wall across from Axel. "He and Riku visited my university last year."

Axel raised an eyebrow inquiringly, not entirely understanding. Unconcerned, Roxas reached for his backpack, then bent his knee, sliding one sneakered shoe up against the wall mid-way and balancing his bag on his thigh. "As exchange students for a semester," he supplemented, unzipping the main pack and beginning to rummage within it. Then, looking up to shoot Axel an adorably flirty look, Roxas pressed his lips together for a moment as his hand emerged from his backpack with a pen and scrap of paper.

"Would you like to learn French, Axel? _Peut-être_?"

_With you? Oui, s'il vous_ fucking _plaît_.

Axel found himself blushing, cheeks flushed at the suggestive tone. "You mean, like do a study abroad? In Montreal?"

Roxas smiled. "Yes, that's what I mean." He looked down and began scribbling on the scrap of paper he'd retrieved. "Unless you'd just like to visit. We could arrange that too," he said. "Exchange would just be longer." He looked up at Axel out of the corner of his eye demurely. "More time to get to know each other…"

The unspoken meaning of his last words lingered in the air between them, the enticing promise of more time spent with Roxas almost too much for Axel's exhaustion-addled brain to process at the moment.

Over the intercom, a flight's pre-boarding instructions were announced. Both men looked up at one another at the same time.

Before Axel could say another word, Roxas zipped his bag, pushing off the wall and easing it comfortably over one shoulder again. "I should go, but think about it, okay?" he said, as he reached forward, gently unfurling the fingers of Axel's balled fist and pressing the paper he'd just written on into it. "Let me know what you decide sometime, yes?"

He began to depart, out of the hallway and off toward the gates. "_Au r'voir_, Axel," Roxas called, throwing a final glance the redhead's way. "_À bientôt, j'espère_." Then Roxas was gone, out of sight, leaving Axel with an unfamiliar, oddly invigorating sense of anticipation about a final year of college that up until now he'd assumed would be filled with boring electives and nothing more.

Axel stayed where he was for a moment, took a sip of his coffee as he fingered the scrap of paper in his other hand. He could still taste Roxas on his lips, could still see the blond's friendly smile so clearly in his mind. And now, thanks to his second coincidental run-in on a trip that had been utterly full of firsts, he had the information he needed to keep in touch. To figure things out, and maybe even take another trip.

Forcing the stupid grin that had formed off his face at the mere thought of things to come, Axel finally pushed away from the wall himself and began to head back to his friends, all the while thinking about his options for studying abroad ...and the potential for more eye-opening encounters with one adorably, undeniably, sexy little blond.


End file.
